Reporting to First Base - Tales from the Fringe(s) -Episode 2

The early installations for lunar bases had commenced around Kepler, Copernicus and some even at Ptolemy, because lunar orbit rendezvous methods favored equatorial landings.

And then the polar migration, driven by the need for solar energy, coupled with the availability of Thorium from the breccia had led to the rise of Imbrium City.

Of course, Imbrium city was a partially defined notion as of now. There were clumps of human establishments ranging from equatorial to near-polar, all of which were grouped together and referred to as The City. Which of course was not to scale, in traditional terms. The areal spread of the Mare Imbrium vicinity was comparable more to a continent than to a city. But nomenclature-wise, city it was, for now, anyhow.

"Come on in." Even on the radio, the voice made him go weak in the knees. Fortunately lunar gravity worked out well for him and he got by and managed a "h.h.hello". Sue. Most every man on the moon, and several out at the fringes, had been singed if not scorched by Sue's fire. But she always got them back up and coming for more. Taut in every fiber, "formidable" was the first thought that came to mind. And then of course after the first one, there was absolutely no room for any more thoughts. To not go silly in the head was about all a man could do in her presence.

So he made his way from the horror to the hatch. Hmph, past the bay door, maintain the radiation shield, the EVA airlock (funny how we referred to it as EVA, even when under the lunar surface!), in, and Wow! He would never cease to be amazed by this one. The docking Mezz. All the edges, faces, and vertices. Self-Dual Polyhedra. So much male and female, ooof! All right, through the floor, and he was in the City. OK! Not bad, he could go jogging now. Not really, but what the heck!

Most of the construction was regolith and glass composite, not the platinum-iridium and other high flying stuff he was used to on ISS-7. He was impressed by the ingenuity of using regolith as a shield from itself. There was a serene and austere atmosphere in the lavatube caverns. Some inherent to the location, some brought about by the pioneer spirit of the human occupants. He was reminded of the temple visit (he couldn't remember where, though) on earth when he was a child. Humankind was going through an irreverent phase though, and his visit to the temple back then had been essentially archaeological in intent.

There was a resurrection of the pluralist-monist factions, though, in some nascent sense, out here. Those who thought in terms of 'The Fringe', and those who went by 'The Fringes'. The Principle of Superposition was on its way to attaining the status of God's Word. And Fresnel and Fraunhoffer were on their way to becoming Prophets, or High Priests, or howsoever the evolution of the Mythos took them forward. But all that was as yet in the making. For RatH, the ethos was primarily rationalist.

And so, in what was for him an atavistic impulse and a surge of instinct, he bowed his head and prayed.

They reached him just as he got his gear in order. He stowed most of his stuff at the hat'n'coat, and adjusted the oxy-mask. Most of the city had pressure gradient maintained by using carbon dioxide to the most part, which also served the purpose of providing the primary ingredient for hydroponics research.

Living quarters, and select locations maintained oxygen at about 21%.

Sue. And the Executive Board, Imre Lipschitz himself.